Tag Archives for police blaming others

It was bad enough that a man crashed his car into Aaron Shelton’s yard. It was even worse when the Hamilton County, Tennessee, deputies pursuing that man tackled Shelton to the ground and beat him with their batons even as he and his wife tried to explain that, not only was Shelton the not the man they were looking for, he was a fellow deputy. After the deputies realized their mistake, Shelton says they tried to keep him quiet, telling him they were “brothers.” But he says he was ostracized and punished professionally after he filed a complaint against the deputies. He’s now suing the department and the county.

To serve and protect, this is what the police force is supposed to do. But in the recent past, police brutality has been highlighted in various high profile incidents, from Ferguson, to New York and recently to Philadelphia.

Najee Rivera was framed by two officers of Philadelphia PD. They charged him for aggravated assault when they were the ones who assaulted him. A video found by his girlfriend proved beyond a shadow of doubt that the police officers had falsified their report and brutally beaten up this man.

Najee settled with the PD for $200k and the DA has committed to prosecuting the police officers to the full extent of the law. Despite the damning video evidence, the police officers through their lawyers are looking to prove their innocence in court.

I understand that the police has to deal with an extreme amount of pressure on the streets. Gang wars, drugs, thieves and carries…

Pierrefonds resident Michael Reilley says two Montreal police officers abused their power by fining him $162 after he stopped them for making an illegal left turn.

The incident occurred Saturday morning when Reilley was driving south down Victoria Avenue just past Côte-Ste-Catherine Road.

Reilley, 69, told CBC News that he watched the police car in front of him make a left turn onto a street where no left turns are permitted between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Reilley said the cruiser did not flash its roof lights or even use its turn signal, so he decided to take action.

“I was immediately annoyed because I didn’t expect that type of behaviour from police,” he told CBC News.

He followed the police car and flashed his high beams to get the officers to pull over. They eventually did so after Reilley honked his horn.

“Do you realize that you made an illegal left turn without any flashing lights?” Reilley asked the officers after pulling his car up alongside them.

According to Reilley, the officer behind the wheel said they were on a call. Reilley replied that they should have flashed their roof lights if that was the case.

The officers — who were “quite hostile and pretty angry,” according to Reilley — ordered him to pull up in front of the cruiser and park his car.

According to Reilley, one officer told him: “‘You don’t pull us over, we pull you over.’”

Both officers got out of the cruiser, approached his car on either side and asked Reilley to produce identification.

“I was nervous, I’ve never been in that situation. But with what we hear in the media about Montreal police officers, I’m losing respect. What they did at city hall was awful, the way they’re dressed to look like a bunch of clowns, the stickers all over their cars. It’s just outrageous. And something’s got to be done about it. We’re turning into a Mickey Mouse / banana republic.”

Since June, police have been employing pressure tactics like dressing in non-uniform pants and hats and decorating their cars with stickers to protest the province’s pension reform legislation, Bill 3.

The officers took Reilley’s ID back to their car and eventually returned with a ticket for $162 for honking his horn unnecessarily, he said.

“They fined me for honking my horn to bring to their attention something that they had done illegally. And I find that an abuse of power.”

When contacted by CBC News on Sunday, Montreal police said they could not provide an official comment.

Reilley has since issued a formal complaint to Montreal police, demanding $250 from each officer for damages.

He’s also filing a complaint with the police ethics board.

“They could have said ‘Oh, thank you for bringing that to our attention, we’re sorry.’ But no, they had to play heavy, they had to show that they were boss,” he said.

The decision to confront the officers was the end of result of witnessing a number of similar incidents on the West Island, Reilley said.

“Police going through stop signs, going through red lights without their flashers on… Police are not above the Highway Safety Code,” he said.

“We are their bosses. Their job is to serve and protect only, not to harass and do what I experienced,” he told CBC News.

Reilley said all citizens who witness police committing traffic violations should take down the squad car’s plate and car number, and file a complaint.

“Otherwise, they’ll think, what the heck, they can do what they want.”

Last February Joseph Quilles, a deputy sheriff with the Milwaukee Sheriff’s Department, T-boned 25-year-old Tanya Weyker’s car while he was turning at a stop sign, breaking her neck.

Cops who arrived at the scene started questioning Weyker about whether she had been drinking (she admitted to having a couple of sips from a friend’s drink earlier in the day) and whether she was on prescription pills (she admitted being prescribed Vicodin after having her wisdom teeth pulled out but said she hadn’t taken any in a week).